The Dragon, The Prince and The Valkyrie
by TidePoolDevil
Summary: Hiccup definitely wasn't expecting Astrid to confront him about Dragon Training in the forest. He definitely wasn't expecting her change of heart about dragons. And he definitely wasn't expecting her to join him. When Hiccup, Toothless AND Astrid leave Berk before the fight with the Monstrous Nightmare not only does that change their lives forever, but everyone else as well.
1. Decisions Change Lives

**AN: I know, I know I hate these too. I am so so sorry to all those people who saw my story and tried to read it and it wasn't there, yeesh, I don't know what happened there but this is the actual chapter! :D I was really surprised when I saw there were 220 views! 220! And I have followers! Oh my gods! I wasn't expecting any! Anyway, this is not my first fan fiction, however it is the first that I've published so chill please. I own the cover art, in case you didn't realise it's Toothless and Hiccup flying side by side, I know it's not real good but give me a break, I did it with pastels in like 1 minute and it's probably upside down. Yeah that wasn't intentional. The dialogue in this scene is mine because I haven't a script or anything handy so bare with me.  
**

 **This is the new and improved version of chapter 1 because...well, the other one was crap.**

 **Anyway, I don't own HTTYD just the plot. On with the story!**

Chapter 1

}Decisions change lives{

~Hiccup~

 _Great. Just great. I get to kill the Nightmare. Whoo. Woopdy do._

I huffed and brought the heavy basket up higher on my back. Stepping over a fallen log I looked behind me, checking for unwanted tails. Nothing there. I waited perfectly still for a moment more before nodding satisfied and continuing on my way to the cove. The further and further I got from the village, the quieter and more peaceful it became. Bird calls sounding above me, mingling with the rustling of the trees in the wind. I closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying the feeling of peace that came with the forest.

I followed the worn dirt path down to the cove, losing myself in the quiet of the forest. _Just a little further and I'm free. Free. I wonder what it'll be like, relaxing probably, uplifting maybe._ I sighed, my breath disturbing the tranquil feeling of the forest, _it will be bliss._

I looked up and felt a grin tug at my lips, _almost there_. I slipped into the entrance to the cove and stopped by the firmly stuck shield. I lifted the heavy basket up and over, letting it flop to the ground. I slid under the shield, my boots disturbing the loose soil, and picked up the basket again.

"Hey bud, where are ya?" I called out, dropping the basket of fish by a boulder. "We're going on a little vacation. Forever."

I knelt down to check everything was in order with the basket when I heard the _shink_ of a sharpening blade and someone spoke up.

"What are you doing?"

I glanced up briefly to see Astrid seated atop the boulder sharpening her axe nonchalantly.

"Hey Astrid." I mumbled. _Wait...Astrid?!_

My head snapped back up and I scrambled backwards in panic. "Astrid, hey! Uh..hey..hi..hey Astrid!"

She examined her glinting axe in the light and dropped the sharpening stone she was using. "I want to know what you're doing. And you better answer."

Her nonchalant attitude was gone in an instant and she turned to glare at me, the sunlight giving her a golden halo but shadowing her face.

I gulped. One thought ran through my mind as she fixed me with her predatory gaze. _Finished._

She slipped off the rock and advanced on me, pointing the axe blade at me threateningly. "You didn't answer my question. What. Are. You. Doing." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, "are you training with someone?"

I raised my hands in a (hopefully) placating manner, "Astrid, I know this looks bad..." _Excuse, excuse..._

She surged forward and seized me by the shoulder of my riding harness. "It better not have anything to do with this!"

 _Oh for Thor's sake..._

"Alright, alright you got me. I..I've been making outfits! So what are you waiting for! Drag me back, expose my secret." I took her hand and held it to my shirt so she could drag me away.

She glared at me and grabbed hold of my wrist, twisting my arm at an unnatural angle. I cried out in pain and fell to the dirt.

"Why would you do that?"

"That's for the lies!" She dropped the butt of her axe on my stomach, "and that's for everything else."

I grunted in pain when the iron capped wood connected solidly with my stomach. I lay splayed in the dirt, gathering my breath. I picked myself up slowly, brushing the dirt from my clothes. In the corner of my eye I saw a green eyed shadow moving toward us.

 _The gods hate me..._

I turned away, looking up at Astrid as she brushed her golden bangs from her eyes. As she did so her head tilted slightly towards Toothless. A muffled gasp wrenched itself from her throat, eyes widening in shock.

"Get down!"

She shoved me to the side, perhaps harder than necessary, and raised her battle axe. She charged forward, a battle cry raging in her throat. I scrambled to my feet as Toothless narrowed his pupils to slits and charged Astrid in all his fury. ***Ha ha, puns :D***

"No!" I skidded on the loose soil, shoving Astrid aside and came to a stop by the snarling creature of rage and black scales otherwise known as Toothless. I pushed my back against his head, creating a wall between a snarling beast and a dragon. ***:P Astrid's gonna hate Hiccup for that***

"What are you doing!" Astrid screamed, beautiful features morphed with anger and hate.

"Stopping you!" I shouted, protective instinct giving me strength in the face of fear.

She looked taken aback by my outburst, her hold on her axe going limp. "What?" She hissed through bared teeth.

"Stopping you." I answered evenly, straightening and defiantly looking her in the eye.

Toothless growled at the weapon in her hands, still not trusting my judgement obviously. I glared at her axe, edge stained with fresh blood. Probably from when I pushed her over.

"How about we start over?" I suggested hopefully. "Toothless, Astrid. Astrid, Toothless."

Toothless snarled at Astrid, baring his teeth. Astrid gave me a look that stated she obviously questioned my sanity before turning tail and running, forgetting her axe in her haste.

My shoulders slumped in defeat. "Duh da dah. We're dead."

Toothless waddled away obviously not caring anymore.

"He..Hey! Where do you think you're going?" I demanded.

(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::) **AN: Cookies for dealing with me. ;)**

* * *

We flew out over the forest, scanning the floor for the familiar shield maiden. Toothless grumbled, he obviously didn't care about my crush in a positive way.

I leaned over the side and saw a familiar speck of shining blonde. "There!"

Toothless grumbled but obliged with a steep dive, swooping Astrid and seizing her by the arms and carrying her up. She screamed and struggled in a desperate attempt to escape. Toothless hovered for a moment, tossing Astrid so she landed in the top of a tree before landing himself. The tall tree bent and nearly touched the ground under his weight.

"Hiccup!" She shouted kicking out and trying to get a better hold on the branch. "Get me down from here!"

"Astrid please let me explain," I started, trying to calm her down.

"I am not listening to anything you have to say!" She shouted.

"Okay," I said calmly. "I won't speak. Just let me show you."

I leaned down and offered her a hand.

Her brow crumpled in thought for a moment before she swung up on the branch. She glared at my hand and smacked it away. Toothless growled when she reached out to climb on. I patted the top of his head reassuringly and after a moment of hesitation Astrid climbed on the saddle behind me.

She sat as far away from me as physically possible and held her arms up, obviously not wanting to touch me. "Get me down."

I frowned, she sounded nervous...

I leaned forward, patting Toothless' head, "down bud, gently." I turned back to Astrid confidently. "See, nothing to worry about."

Toothless made a sound in the back of his throat and next thing I knew we were flying upwards nearly entirely vertical. Astrid was screaming at the top of her lungs but over the rushing of the wind I could barely hear her. The wind tore at my hair and bit my eyes, tears streaming across my cheeks. Astrid flailed about trying to stop herself from flying off backwards and wrapped her legs around my waist, forcing the breath from my lungs.

"Toothless!" I shrieked.

Astrid pulled herself up and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, burying her face in my back.

Toothless leveled off and I felt Astrid sag in relief. Barely a moment after we barrel rolled to the right, soaring into a swift dive. We pulled up abruptly before Toothless flew into every one-coming wave, soaking Astrid and I with salty water.

"We need her to like us!"

Toothless pulled upwards in a constant spin.

"And now the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile." I said sarcastically.

"Stop!" Astrid begged, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just get me off of this thing!"

Toothless made a satisfied noise and leveled off, breaking out above the clouds, now painted hundreds of shades of pink and orange in the sunset. Astrid relaxed against my back and I felt her lift her head. She gasped in wonder and untangled herself from me. I caught a glimpse of her touching the clouds in amazement.

We soared through the clouds, above the sea and below the stars. I stiffened slightly when Astrid leaned her head on my shoulders, then I realised, not out of fear, out of happiness.

"This is amazing." She finally said, she leaned forward to touch Toothless' head, "he's amazing." She rested a hand on my arm and spoke in my ear over the wind, "what are you going to do? Your final exam is tomorrow, you know you're going to have to.." she lowered her voice, "kill a dragon."

"Don't remind me."

Toothless froze and dove to the right suddenly, into the fog, drawing our somber conversation to an abrupt halt.

"Toothless?" I questioned. He'd never acted like this before.

I rested a hand on his head but he shook it off. This isn't good.

"What's the matter bud?"

Toothless didn't respond he just looked around nervously, his ear flaps vibrating and alert.

A screech sounded beside us and I saw a Monstrous Nightmare flap about beside us, a dead sheep in its claws. Astrid and I leaned forward as far possible trying to look small and insignificant. I started in shock as slowly dozens more dragons appeared out of the fog, all carrying what must be their kill.

I frowned concerned, "it looks like they're...hauling in their kill."

"What does that make us?" Astrid whispered nervously.

Suddenly the dragons all changed direction, falling into a steep dive through a tunnel-like cave. I gasped in horrified amazement as my eyes adjusted to the dark. Hundreds of dragons circled a giant hole, dropping their burdens into the pit. Toothless landed behind a stone pillar and we leaned forward to watch in fascinated horror. The pit seemed to glow with a pulsing orange light, turning the cave an eerie pale orange.

"They're not eating any of it." Astrid said, her voice a mixture of confusion and disgust.

"Well it's nice to know all our food is being dumped down a giant hole." I said sarcastically.

My attention was attracted to a drowsy and apathetic looking Gronkle hovering over the pit. It opened its mouth and regurgitated a measly little fish, letting it fall into the light. The Gronkle scratched the side of its head with a hind leg before turning to leave. A mighty roar echoed throughout the cavern and all the dragons cowered in their little niches, fearing what comes next. The Gronkle started and tried to flee but it wasn't fast enough. The source of the roar bellowed again and out of the pit came the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen (next to Astrid of course). The head of a massive dragon came up out of the pit and closed its jaws around the Gronkle with an echoing _snap!_

Toothless sat back on his haunches and I leaned forward preparing to take off.

"Come on bud, let's get out of here."

The monster slowly sank back into its hole but it stopped abruptly, its nostrils flaring.

"Bud get us out of here." Toothless made a sound of agreement and unfurled his wings.

The monster turned to us and just before its mighty jaws would've swallowed us whole we lifted off, streaking away through the cave and into the night. Panicked shrieks and cries filled the night as we were swept away from the nest in a swirling mass of colours.

We soared through the night and back to Berk's shores, not looking back. We came to a stop on the pale sand of a hidden beach, the moon making it glow a bright white. Astrid slipped off Toothless' back and took a few steps before turning back to face me.

"It makes sense now, it's like a giant beehive. They're the workers, that's their queen. We have to warn the village."

"No. No..Astrid, they'll kill Toothless. I can't let them do that." I argued.

She looked at me in disbelief, "you want to keep this a secret? The thing we've been searching for since Vikings first sailed here, and you want to keep it a secret to protect your pet dragon?"

Toothless looked miffed when she called him a pet but I ignored him.

I lifted my chin and pushed my shoulders back, I'd never been more serious, "yes."

Astrid looked surprised for a moment but then her expression softened with understanding, "okay. So what are we going to do?"

"I don't know. If I stay I'll have to...y'know and there's always the risk that someone else will find Toothless. I don't want to take those risks. That's why I'm leaving. Maybe I'll come back one day, but for now I'm leaving." I shook my head slowly, "I can't stay here. It's not safe, for me or Toothless. I am not a dragon killer, I am not a Viking. I am a dragon rider and I can't stay here."

"So you're just leaving?" Astrid demanded.

"I never said that."

"You're abandoning us, leaving us at the mercy of that..that creature!"

"I never said that either."

Astrid looked positively livid. "Then what did you say?"

"Nothing. You didn't let me finish."

She growled and punched me in the arm, "just say it!"

"Ow! Ow fine!" I rubbed my bruising arm, "I was going to say that I'll leave, find somewhere safe and then comeback with perhaps more dragon riders and defeat the nest. I was never going to abandon Berk. Well maybe leave it in the hands of someone else but I was obviously never going to be chief!"

Astrid frowned thoughtfully, "okay. Me too."

"What?" I asked shocked.

"I'm coming." I stared at her open mouthed. This couldn't possibly be happening. Astrid Hofferson _agreeing_ with me?

"What? Did you honestly think that after what you showed me up there that I was just gonna sit back and stay on the ground in _Berk_ for the rest of my life. Surrounded by people like _Snotlout_?" She explained as if it were obvious.

"Y..you want to come? With..with me?" I squeaked.

She rolled her eyes. "That's what I just said. Anyway, I just need to go back to the village and get some stuff. I have a feeling that you don't want to leave before your final exam in the morning."

She stepped forward and punched me in the arm roughly. "That's for kidnapping me."

I held onto my now thoroughly bruised arm and gave Toothless an _I have no idea_ look before I turned back to Astrid. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes almost.. _bashfully_ before seizing me by the collar and planting a kiss on my cheek.

"And that's for...everything else." she turned away shyly and ran into the dark of the forest.

I half turned to Toothless and caught his cheeky look.

"What are you looking at?"

Toothless chuckled in his dragon way, the sound strange and warbling in the night.

 **AN: Whew! That was a biggy. Well I hope y'all liked it and I'll update ASAP cause I know how annoying it is when an author takes ages so...**

 **ciao mai friends**

 **-TidePoolAngel**


	2. Run, run away and never come back

**AN: I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with this chapter so it's taken longer than I would have liked. I'm sorry for the delay, but I was away at a youth festival that a few towns around my area come together to run. But enough about real life.**

 **I was listening to the sound track for the second movie when I was writing this so I was feeling pretty inspired. Um...I added in some brothers for Astrid just because I thought it'd be a) cute and b) I can't wait for their reaction when *SPOILERS!* sorry guys, I'm not telling though you'll probably guess.  
**

 **If you guys can guess what I was thinking about when I wrote the title for this chapter then I will make the next chapter extra long. *hint: it's a movie***

 **I was really surprised when I opened my inbox and had a whole bunch of alerts saying my story got a heap of follows and favourites. I was so happy! So guys here is my chapter that feels like a filler (which it is) and will probably be short (which it is) but oh well suck it up darlings.**

 ***This is the updated version. It hasn't been changed much but I might've fixed some typos or whatever.***

 **Enjoy! :)**

Chapter 2

}Run. Run away and never come back{

~Astrid~

I ran back to the village, dodging tree branches and hurdling mossy logs. The moon was high in the sky, shining amongst the stars, taunting me. I paused in my dash for a moment and rested my right hand on a tree trunk as I caught my breath. When my palm came into contact with the rough bark I hissed in pain. I pulled it away and examined it in the pale moonlight. There was a large bloody scrape on my palm, the blood had clotted into the beginning of a scab. I frowned in confusion, it wasn't there before...before I confronted Hiccup. I must've scraped my hand on a rock or something.

I shook my head and set off at a brisk jog, I'll have time to worry about it later.

The forest gradually thinned and I knew I was close to the village. I dropped some of my speed until I stopped at the edge of the village. I looked around briefly, checking for unwanted attention before stealthily moving through the silent village. I made my way to my house, ducking into shadows whenever someone passed by.

I finally made it to my house but I hesitated outside, _should I say goodbye?_

I shook my head, they would just try and stop me, after all, I am their only daughter. I made my way around the side of our house and stopped below my window. I looked up, the window was open and the faint glow of a candle lit up my room. I braced my foot on one of the grooves in the wooden wall and began to climb upwards. I stopped just below my window sill and peaked over the edge. I looked around my room and spied my second youngest brother curled up on my bed, a stuffed Deadly Nadder clutched in his little arms.

I smiled to myself, I'd always loved Garrett the most.

I waited for a moment, listening. Listening to his even breathing, the calls of night birds and the silence of my home. Satisfied no one was awake I lifted myself up and into my room. I settled silently on the wooden floor and paused, checking once again for signs of wakefulness from the occupants of my home.

Finally satisfied I moved near silently around my room, collecting what I needed for my new life. My satchel slowly began to fill, a knife here, a change of clothes there, thick leather gloves for when I used to climb the mountains around Berk and another knife. With much thought I reached under my bed and pulled out a small wooden chest. It rattled slightly when I moved it, but thankfully not enough to wake my brother. With shaking fingers I opened the chest and removed the contents, placing my life's savings in the bottom of my satchel. I pushed the now empty chest under my bed and stood. I glanced around my room briefly and bid it a silent goodbye, I'm never going to see it again.

In a surge of sisterly instinct I quickly crossed the room and pulled my bed furs up over Garrett. A small smile curled his lips and I pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

"Goodbye Garrett." I whispered and like a wraith in the night I left my room, descending the stairs to reach the first floor.

I made my way to our food storage, thinking Hiccup probably packed only enough food for one person. And I would probably be right.

I took only the barest minimum, a couple of bread rolls, a few pieces of salted yak meat and a piece of pickled salmon. I wrapped them tightly in a rough cloth and shoved them in my satchel. I took a full water skin and put it in my satchel as well

By now my satchel was bulging and I briefly wondered if it would be too heavy, but quickly shook off the thought. It's a gods damned _Night Fury_ for Thor's sake! Of course it won't be too heavy.

I took one last look around my home before leaving silently. I padded through the village, deep in thought. _Have I made the right choice? Will my family be okay? What will they think happened to us? Will they mourn? Will whatever honor my family still has be taken from them with my abandonment? Will they hate me?_

I shook off those thoughts as I reached the edge of the forest and looked into the looming darkness. I threw one last look over my shoulder, bidding my home goodbye for the final time before setting off, longing for the adventure awaiting me.

* * *

Little did she know that she'd left behind her treasured mother's axe in the Night Fury's cove.


	3. Freedom

**AN: Hello again! I'm hoping y'all liked it cause frankly I liked it-ish...**

 **ANYWAY I know it wasn't the best or the most exciting but this chapter will be longer, more exciting and include: MORE THAN ONE CHARACTER'S POINT OF VIEW! I'm excited! Are you excited? YEAH!**

 ***clears throat and continues in poshest British accent possible* I do beg your pardon sirs and madams but I am just very happy to be here today.**

 **CAUSE I NEARLY DIED YESTERDAY!**

 **not really I just nearly broke my arm when I came off my bike on my way to work so yeah...awkward to type with a swollen and bleeding elbow...but whatever, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it.**

 **ANYWAY...**

 **For last chapter I was referencing... drum roll please!**

 **THE LION KING!**

 **The scene after Mufasa dies and Scar tells Simba to run, run away and never come back.**

 **Ok then.**

 **I HAVE A QUESTION!**

 **Do you want OC's?**

 **If so how many?**

 **Also, if you would like to send in your OC's I would gladly accept them, however they may not be mentioned until later on, also I may adapt your OC's to fit my needs and I will allow you to make them somewhat magical.**

 **CONDITIONS:**

 **You must include detailed descriptions of: appearance, personality, skills eg. sword fighting, leather working etc., ( I would like outfit descriptions as well please), where they are from, background story and their role within a group eg. leader, outcast, stupid one, smart one, introverted one etc. or like teacher, apprentice, blacksmith or like courier or something. You must also state their strengths and weaknesses (good characters are never perfect).**

 **They can be any age or gender.**

 **You may submit more than one OC and may even submit OC pairings (not with canon characters please).**

 **The OC's may not be from countries such as the Americas, Australia, New Zealand or countries of the like.**

 **Please don't send in dragon-human hybrids as I will probably not accept them. I will let you know if I change my mind.**

 **You may create OC dragons both for your OC's and just to exist in my world however if I deem them...too wild I will not accept them.**

 **You may also create magical/non-magical societies for your OC's to be from or for the characters to discover.**

 **Also, would you like the Riders to be nomadic (travelers) or have a village/city?**

 **When I decide on OC's I will run them past you guys for approval.**

 **Let me know with a PM or in the Reviews.**

 **THANK YOU NOW, SEEING AS I OWN NOTHING...**

 **ONTO THE STORY!**

Chapter 3

}Freedom{

~Hiccup~

I blinked in the dark, wondering why I was awake if it was still dark. I moaned and rolled over, pressing my cheek into my blanket. My scaly blanket. I pulled back and blinked sleepily at the offending blanket. There was a glossy sheen on the surface of my blanket and I reached out to touch it. It was rough and scaly, like dragon skin. Definitely _not_ my blanket. I pushed up at the skin above me and it recoiled at my touch. Trying my luck I pushed against it again and the skin unfurled around me and pushed me out. I rolled across the cold ground until I stopped several meters away. I turned my head to look at what I just rolled out f and saw Toothless looking at me evidently quite annoyed at being woken.

"Toothless?" I asked confused.

He rolled his eyes and rolled so he was facing away from me.

"What are you doing?" I whisper shouted, "if Dad sees you in our cave..."

 _Hang on,_ I thought, _cave?_

I looked around at the stone walls of the cave and it all slowly came back to me. Winning, Dragon Training, Astrid, the flight, running away, freedom...

I stood up and glanced out the entrance of the cave, the sun was high in the sky. _T_ _he villagers probably know we're gone now,_ I thought briefly before moving to the entrance of the cave and looking out at our new found sanctuary. We'd flown for many hours last night, the sky had started to lighten by the time we landed on an island we deemed safe. We'd found a hidden cave on a high mountain that over looked thick forest, pale gold sand that bordered the island and a river that ran across the island from a waterfall high on the mountain.

I glanced out at the sky, watching the pale blue. I shifted my gaze to the ocean, checking for ships and once satisfied I turned back to the trail leading to our cave, Astrid wasn't inside so she must be outside somewhere. I turned away from the outside world and back to Toothless. I walked back into the cave and settled down, leaning against Toothless' back, and took a bread roll from my satchel, having my breakfast while I waited.

I only closed my eyes for a second before I was jolted awake with a kick to my side. I yelped and bolted upright, blinking at the darkness I found myself. I looked up at Astrid, her arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently.

"Wh..what?" I asked yawning in the middle of my question.

She rolled her eyes but I noticed a smirk playing on her lips. "Do you want dinner or not?"

I blinked at her but stood up and approached the small campfire she had going. I sat leaning against a rock and took the cooked fish I was offered. I bit into it and looked out at the skyline, the stars starting to come to life as the moon rose above the horizon.

I looked over at Astrid and Toothless, both eating their fish in awkward silence.

"So, what do we do now?"

I chewed my fish thoughtfully then swallowed, "I'm not sure. I didn't exactly have a plan before you found me and I still have yet to form one."

She gave me a look that stated she was very unimpressed.

"But," I said drawing the word out nervously, "I think since we're not in Berk someone else will have to slay the Nightmare. And they definitely won't have second thoughts on killing it."

Understanding slowly dawned on Astrid's face, "you want to set the dragons free."

I nodded, "and after that, every other dragon in the archipelago. Maybe we can show others the true nature of dragons."

Astrid nodded thoughtfully, "lot's of risks, violence, possible maiming and enemies involved." She looked at me seriously, "I'm in. If we want to save those dragons, we need to do it tonight, who knows when they'll decide to let the others kill them."

I nodded and swallowed the last of my fish, "alright, bud you up for another flight?"

Toothless perked up at the word flight and looked at me happily before bouncing over and licking my cheek.

"Uh! Toothless!" I cried, wiping the sticky substance from my face.

He chortled happily and faced out into the night.

I stood up and mounted Toothless, clicking his tail-fin into position. Astrid gave us a funny look but mounted Toothless behind me and held loosely around my waist.

"Let's go bud." I murmured and with a rush of wind we were off to give others freedom.

~Astrid~

I had only flown twice before and already I loved it. The sea and land I'd been bound to my entire life was now a mere splash of colours below me. And the stars and clouds I'd always longed to touch were now within reaching distance. I honestly couldn't believe no one else had thought of doing this before.

I brought myself back to the present and looked down at the ocean below us. The stars reflected on its silk-like surface looked like diamonds buried in navy glass. We'd been flying for several hours now and I was starting to recognise the occasional land mark. A sea stack that looked like a lightning bolt, a sea stack topped with a speared dragon skull.

I knew that we'd finally arrived when below us I saw the giant statue guards, keeping watch over our seas, their giant torches ever burning.

I looked down at the Kill Ring as we circled it from above. "So how are we going to do this?"

"I have two ideas." Hiccup said, "one, sneak in, unlock the doors and leave like we were never here, but leaving the possibility for the Vikings to think of treachery. Or two, blow everything up and leave no room for anyone to think it was anything but a dragon."

I nodded thoughtfully weighing our options, "there will be more risk of getting caught, possible angry dragons trying to kill us as well as Vikings..." I glanced down at the village again, "but definitely better if we don't want to arouse suspicion."

Hiccup nodded before clicking Toothless' tail-fin and turning our gentle circling into a vicious dive bomb.

"Toothless, plasma blast."

As we went faster and faster, the wind made a vicious screaming noise as it passed Toothless' wings. Torches started to groggily flicker to life in the village below, the Vikings waking to the signature scream of the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. In the split second it took me to notice all this Toothless let loose a fireball, erupting the Kill Ring in a ball of purple and blue fire. Shouts were heard across the island as the village shook with the force of the explosion.

Smoke billowed out of the Kill Ring and we dove through the gaping hole in the chain-link cage roof. We settled on the stone floor and I leaped from Toothless' back sprinting to the cage holding the Terrible Terror.

"Astrid!" Hiccup hissed over the clamor in the village. "What are you doing?"

I ignored him and set the Terror loose. The little dragon flew up and away through the smoke, towards freedom.

I ran back over to Toothless as he launched a blast at the cage holding the Gronkle. The dragon burst from its cage in a burst of fury, spitting its lava-like fire around the arena. It charged forward towards us in its rage but stopped short when it saw exactly who released it. Toothless growled and the Gronkle made a meek grumble in response before helping to blow the rest of the cages open. The vikings shouts had grown louder and louder in the minutes it had taken to release the dragons. The only dragon left was the Nadder. The Zippleback let loose an explosion before flying away into the night.

The Nadder emerged from its cage, slowly and dazed from the explosion. It regained its composure fairly quickly and as we left it turned to follow us only to be stopped by a bola wrapping around its wings. It cried out in surprise and turned to face the Vikings emerging from the smoke. It roared in defiance and unleashed a torrent of magma fire at its attackers. A second bola wrapped around the dragon's legs and it was knocked on its side, held down by several vikings.

Hiccup noticed this and turned Toothless around, readying a plasma blast to help. I tried to ignore the guilt seizing my heart as I watched the beautiful dragon recaptured and held down. I turned away briefly then turned back, drawing in a deep breath I leaped from Toothless' back just as he unleashed a blast for cover. As I touched down I buckled my knees and tumbled into a roll, coming to a standing stop.

In the confusion I unleashed a battle cry and seized one of the Viking's weapons, kicking him in the gut. I hefted the iron sword in my hand and with a fierce scream I fought off the Vikings holding the dragon down. Toothless fired shots at the vikings, distracting them and occasionally knocking them out. One by one they stumbled away, dazed and confused, until I had the time to cut the Nadder free.

The dragon hopped lightly to its feet and roared defiantly at its ex-captors before with a flap of wings and rush of smoke it seized me in its claws and carried me away, following obediently after Toothless.

~Stoick~

I looked up as those dragon loving cowards flew away, taking every last dragon in the Kill Ring with them. The Nadder carried one of them in its claws, a small blonde woman by the looks of it, and the Night Fury was mounted by a figure that could only be described as 'fish bone-like'. I turned back to the defeated vikings behind me, examining their status. Several had been knocked unconscious, many were bruised and a few had sprains. Surprisingly none were wounded even slightly.

I dragged a hand down my face in frustration, "what happened?"

Bjorn, a leather worker and warrior, was shoved forward. He looked very nervous. "Chief, we believe the dragons were broken out by the Night Fury and its riders. Ah only got a glimpse of the girl, she took ma sword."

I nodded, processing this information, and gestured for him to go on.

"She was strong, kicked me in the gut and sent me back int'a the wall. She had blonde hair, tied back and was quite beautiful. Ah think she was quite young." Bjorn said.

I nodded, "how young?"

"Couldn't ah been older than 15 chief."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, "are you sure?"

"Positive."

I nodded, "clean up this mess, ah need to think."

A chorus of 'yes chief' followed me as I left the Kill Ring. Deep in thought I approached my home, now silent. I sighed heavily, Hiccup was still missing. Normally that wouldn't concern me much, he often left for long periods of time nowadays but the Hofferson girl had gone missing as well. She was the perfect viking child, brave, strong, violent, oh why couldn't Hiccup be more like her?

As I approached my home I had a sudden urge to go into the woods, I shook my head, that's stupid, but still...

I decided to go into the woods anyway, maybe I'd find Hiccup and Astrid.

I trudged through the dark, and noted absently that I was following a trail. I don't know how long I followed the trail for but eventually I came across a cove. I furrowed my brow in confusion as the trail twisted and lead me between two parts of the cove, similar to a doorway. It was fairly narrow, almost too narrow. Something round was at the end of the doorway trail, it looked to be around the size of a shield. I frowned confused, and turned sideways to get closer to it.

I shuffled through the tunnel and when I reached the end I saw that yes, it was a shield. _Why would there be a shield here?_ I shoved the shield and it came loose, like a cork from a bottle, rolling across the soft earth. I followed the shield out of the crevice and looked around the moonlit cove. There was a large pond in the middle of the cove a much of the grass had been torn up or burnt.

"Dragon." I spat, as if the word were poison.

Something glittered on the ground by my feet, frowning I bent down and picked it up. It was a night black scale, perfectly round and almost the size of my palm. I'd never seen anything like it. I pocketed it and walked further into the cove, noticing footprints and dragon scales everywhere.

 _The beast must've been here a long time,_ I thought. As I glanced around I noticed something glinting in the shadow of a boulder. Frowning I made my way forward. As I got closer, I began to identify the source of the glinting. It was metal, I stooped down and picked it up, examining it in the light.

It was an axe, blood smeared on the edge of its blade. I turned the weapon over in my hands and noticed something engraved into the blade alongside the shaft:

 _Property of_ _Astrid Hofferson_

Panic seized my heart and I searched wildly for the owner of the blade, she practically never went anywhere without it. The lass' parents will be devastated. I knelt on the ground and looked at the prints, clearly visible in the light of the rising sun. Dragon prints, the sign of a scuffle and bootprints. Two sets of bootprints. Who else would've...

My blood froze in realisation, _he wouldn't..._

"Hiccup!"

I looked around wildly, calling the names of the two youngsters.

 _No, no no no no no!_

"HICCUP!"

My breath hitched in my throat, _I've already lost Val, not Hiccup too..._

I fell to my knees by the pond in defeat, my chin dropped to my chest and watched the water lapping at the shore. I closed my eyes in grief and when I opened them again the sun had fully risen. Something shone in the water's edge and I reached out to grab it.

It was tiny in my hands, barely a butter knife, but the blade was deadly sharp and well cared for. I turned it over in my fingers and examined the pommel,

 _H H H III_

A single tear trailed down my cheek, "oh Hiccup."

Unknown black dragon scales, the bloody axe, lost knife, the attack tonight...The dots started to connect inside my mind and my face twisted into an expression of anger. The two most promising youngsters of our village, dead. My son, dead. They found and fought the Night Fury. And it killed them. It and its riders.

I glanced back down at my son's knife and clutched it tightly in my hand. I stood up and picked up Astrid's axe. Casting one last glance around the cove I left to return to the village.

 _I will avenge you my son._


	4. Stormfly and Fishing

**AN: Well then... I hope you guys liked that chapter, only took me a few days to update that time.**

 ***wild cheering and applause***

 **I know I know! Oh you're too kind! *bows***

 **Anyway...**

 **last chapter had a long AN so I'll keep this short and sweet and sassy.**

 **Yay alliteration!**

 ***cough*nerd*cough***

 ***flips hair*whatever**

 **ANYWAY...  
**

 **sorry, I get distracted**

 **I would like to thank you guys for your support 19 follows! yay! I honestly didn't think I'd get any but meh.**

 **The first OC will be making his debut this chapter and I would like to thank Fenrir's Phantom for the OC and their support.**

 **I HAVE A QUESTION!**

 **Should the Riders be nomads or have a village?**

 **Let me know in the Reviews!:)**

 **If you spot anything I can do to improve don't hesitate to let me know, trust me I won't be offended, maybe a little miffed but not offended, years of bullying have given me a stone-hard shell when it comes to insults. That and probably the fact my younger sister and I fight like the Thorston twins, yeesh, like watching rabid wolves fight over a scrap of meat. Except with loads more insults. And snarling.**

 **ANYWAY!**

 **READ THE BOTTOM AN! READ IT! PLEASE!**

 **As per usual I own, come closer, *leans down as if to whisper in ear* NOTHING!**

Chapter 4

}Stormfly and Fishing{

~Astrid~

Hours later we settled in our cave, Toothless and the Nadder resting their wings. I slipped from Toothless' back and watched the Nadder cautiously. As we flew she had gently dropped me on Toothless' back and simply followed us back to our cave. _Maybe...maybe she feels indebted to me..._ I shook my head, no, that's stupid although... I looked over at Toothless and Hiccup and how they interacted, Toothless curling around Hiccup to keep him warm and the intelligent way he listened to what Hiccup had to say. I couldn't help but think maybe she did. Maybe she looked to me the same way that Toothless looked to Hiccup. Hiccup was blabbering away about something, but ignored him my senses fixed solely on the dragon before me.

On an impulse I stepped toward the Nadder slowly, my knees bent and muscles tensed, ready to spring away at a moment's notice. The Nadder looked at me curiously with its intelligent eyes, and I couldn't help but wonder how on Midgard I had once hated these beautiful creatures. With trembling fingers I reached out as if to touch her and held my open palm out to her. She looked at me curiously and I turned my face away, screwing my eyes shut. Seconds passed and I couldn't help but feel ridiculous, holding my hand out to a man eating dragon as if asking it to...

I gasped in surprise as hot air rushed past my hand and warm scales were pressed into my palm.

I opened my eyes and turned slowly to face the dragon. Her yellow eyes looked at me with an intelligence and ferocity that reminded me of myself. Gently, I removed my hand from the Nadder's snout and reached out to stroke her. The Nadder gave a small bird-like squawk and let me run my fingers along the scales on her neck.

I let out a breathy laugh and smiled up at the dragon. She gave another squawk and gently padded away to roost by the once again flickering fire. I stared after her, the way she moved with bird-like grace compared to Toothless' cat-like confidence and elegance. It was strange. But beautiful.

"I think you just got your own dragon."

I jumped and whirled around to face Hiccup, sending my fist flying into his upper arm. "Don't do that!"

He winced and rubbed the flesh where my fist had connected with his arm. "Jeez Astrid, what is with you and punching people?"

I huffed and folded my arms, "don't sneak up on me."

He raised an eyebrow, "I wasn't sneaking. I think I made enough noise to wake an armada."

I glared at him and raised my fist threateningly.

He yelped and raised his hands, holding them in front of his body protectively. Smirking I lowered my fist and crossed my arms.

Hiccup turned back to face me, lowering his arms, surprise evident on his face.

"Alright, teach me."

He blinked at me owlishly, a blank expression on his freckled face.

"What?"

I rolled my eyes, "teach me how to ride a dragon. I have a dragon now and I can't just ride Toothless forever so why waste a perfectly good opportunity?"

"Oh..oh! Oh!" He chuckled nervously, "yeah of course I'll teach you how to ride a dragon!" A wide grin spread across his features and I couldn't help but smile back. A small smile, barely curling my lips, but a smile none the less.

"Alright, first things first. Name her. You can't just call her dragon forever now can you?"

I looked over at the Nadder, taking in her appearance. She needed a name that combined her beauty and her ferocity. Her scales were a beautiful sky blue, her body patterned with marigold yellow. A crown of ivory spikes adorned her head and her cloud white underbelly stood in stark contrast with her sky blue scales...Clouds, sky...My thoughts were interrupted when a clap of thunder sounded in the distance. A grin curled across my lips, storm... Stormwind? ...Stormeagle?...Stormfly.

"Stormfly. She'll be Stormfly."

Hiccup nodded approvingly, "Stormfly...I like it."

I grinned, "alright, what's next?"

"Feeding. To gain a dragon's trust you have to feed them. Generally they like to eat fish but not eels, they're terrified of eels." Hiccup lectured.

I nodded, "fish. I think I have a few left over from earlier."

I crossed the cave and opened the basket I used earlier, bending down I opened the basket and pulled a large Perch out. Stormfly perked up, her nostrils flaring and zoomed in on the fish in my hand. She stood and approached me, her head lowered to my level and tail-end in the air. She sniffed the fish in my hand and in a heartbeat she'd opened her mouth, seized the fish and swallowed it whole. I gaped at her lightning quickness and simply stared at her majesty.

She turned back to me and started sniffing me, looking for more fish. I laughed at the way her breath tickled my neck.

"Easy girl!" I laughed and reached into the basket to give her more fish.

I fed her the next few fish in much the same manner as I had before. Stormfly nuzzled my neck happily and I couldn't help but think that might've been the only proper food she'd been given in a while.

"You're welcome. Stormfly."

She squawked happily and moved over to sleep by the fire. I looked out at the lightening sky and it was only then I realised just how tired I was. I yawned and crossed the cave making my way to my semi-circle of stalagmites. Stormfly looked up and saw me walking to the corner of the cave. She gave a small squawk and lifted one of her wings, as if beckoning for me to come.

I hesitated, looking between my stone circle and Stormfly. I glanced over at Hiccup to ask him for advice but he was already sound asleep, wrapped in Toothless' wings. _Surely it will be warmer..._ I hesitated but then making my mind up I crossed the cave to lie in Stormfly's wing. _If Hiccup can do it I can do it too._

As I lay down Stormfly curled her wing around my body and the first thing I noticed was how much warmer it was. I sighed in bliss and snuggled deeper into Stormfly's side, relishing her warmth. And before I knew it I found sleep gently encircling me in its shadowy embrace.

~Hiccup~

I yawned, stretching my arms above my head. The sun was high in the sky when I woke and Astrid was still sound asleep in Stormfly's wings. Toothless was asleep. Again. In short I was bored.

I turned back to the others, watching them doze for a moment. An idea started tickling in the back of my mind and I grabbed one of my notebooks from my satchel. I quickly scribbled a note on one of the pages and tore it out, weighing it down with a rock. I looked around briefly and acting on second thought I emptied my satchel and put it in the fish basket, slinging the basket over my shoulder. I cast another glance around the cave before turning on my heel and trudging down the trail outside.

The path looked to be an old goat trail, but it seemed fairly unused. There were no footprints other than the occasional boot print that must be Astrid's from when she went fishing yesterday. I looked along the trail and saw that it twisted back and forth a lot before finally ducking behind the waterfall some way ahead of our cave.

As I made my way down the trail I looked out over the island and I couldn't help but compare its natural beauty with Berk. Cerulean waters stretched for miles in every direction before lapping at the pale sand of the beach. The forest below sprawled over rolling hills broken only by the sapphire serpentine curls of the river flowing out to sea.

It took me far longer than I would've liked to reach the bottom. _It would've taken less_ _time on Toothless_ , I thought sourly. I looked around briefly before making my way to the base of the waterfall where the water collected in a lake. Broad leafed grass stretched out to the waters edge and reeds shot skyward out of the placid pool. Water lilies floated on the surface, their pale petals like silk. Weeping Willows caressed the surface of the lake, their narrow leaves causing ripples.

I slipped the fishing basket from my back and set it down by a large rock. I removed my satchel and took a knife out. I settled on my knees in the damp earth and reached out over the lake. With the knife I cut the reeds in handfuls, placing them on a flat rock to dry. I repeated this process for some time until I felt I had enough. I stood and wandered through the forest someway collecting small branches and kindling for the fire tonight.

 _Tonight.._ I groaned in frustration, _the dragons._

"What are they going to eat?" I dragged a hand down my face and moaned into it.

I set the tinder down by my fish basket and sat in the grass to think. I looked over at my gathered tinder and spied an oak branch, it was fairly straight, no knots and was fairly solid, indicating it hadn't been rotted out. I reached out and grabbed it, it fit nicely in my hand and wasn't too long or heavy. I grabbed the knife and propped the branch on my knee, cutting off pieces of one end until it had been sharpened to a point.

I examined the sharp wood critically, not my best work but it'll do. I removed my fur boots and rolled my pants up past my knees. Looking down I glared at my thin legs, completely devoid of muscle. And fat for that matter as well. My thin build would always be cause for ridicule back on Berk, but here, here I was free from all the pressures of society and I could be who I wanted. I could invent what I want and there would only be Astrid to judge. And free from Berk she might even express her thoughts on them. And me. Maybe...maybe I'd even have a shot at her.

A small grin spread across my face at the thought, _yes, I will, I will have a chance._ I frowned, _but first..._

I stood up with a small grunt and waded into the shallows, bracing myself against the biting cold. I looked down, my makeshift spear in hand, and dug my toes into the soft sand. I saw a few small fish nibble on my toes but nothing large enough to eat let alone feed a dragon. I sighed in defeat and moved further into the water, spear poised to strike. I waited perfectly still for a fish to come within range, my arms quivering slightly from the effort of staying still.

 _There!_ I saw a flash of scales and forced my spear down upon where I saw the fish, driving the point down into the sand.

I bit my lip and slowly lifted the spear tip out of the water and...nothing. No fish. Nothing. Not so much as a scale.

"The gods hate me." I muttered and poised the spear to strike.

Waiting. Waiting. More waiting. Some more waiting after that. And then _splash!_

I saw another flash of scales and my spear descended on the creature with a force that sent water splashing into my face.

This time I felt something crunch underneath the spear and when I lifted the point out of the water there was a small Perch wiggling on the point, the tip of my spear emerging out its side, stained red with the fish's blood.

"I did it!" I raised my hands over my head and danced around in the water. "I did it! I did it, I did it!" I laughed and turned around to go back ashore and drop the fish in the basket.

I made to take a step when a spear landed with a splash between my feet. I yelped and brandished my fish topped spear at the direction I assumed the spear came from.

A growl came from within the shadows of a Weeping Willow followed by a male voice, husky from disuse. "You're scaring all the fish."

"Uh..um..ah..uh...hi?" I squeaked.

The voice snorted, "very threatening you are. What are you, a walking fish bone?"

I frowned, my annoyance over coming my initial fear, "gee, thanks, I go to a completely different island, seemingly uninhabited and I've only been here two days and already I'm once again labelled fish bone. Thank you for your hospitality."

The voice remained quiet for some time and I hoped that he'd left. He didn't say anything more so I waded out of the shallows, dropping the fish in the basket. One down, gods know how many more.

I turned around to wade back into the water only to bump into solid muscle. I stumbled back and fell on my rear with a yelp.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

I stared wide-eyed at the figure before me. He dressed like a Viking. He sounded like a Viking. But he didn't look like a Viking...he looked like a hiccup. He was tall, granted, but that didn't make a Viking a Viking. He was lithe with muscle, not the rippling masses built up from years of heavy eating and swinging a giant war-hammer around, but the kind of muscle tone from years of living in the wild; running for your life, climbing trees and mountains, hunting your own food. Without the muscle tone he would be similar to me in build, with stick-like limbs and hands and feet too big for his body.

He had obviously been living on his own for some time, having to make his own clothes and weapons. He wore a crude wolf-skin vest over nothing but his toned flesh. Leather boots were wrapped tightly around his feet, bound with thin leather thongs and tattered black trousers covered his long legs.

I gulped, looking up at his unshaven face and matted hair that fell about his shoulders I realised something. He couldn't have been much older than me.

"Fishing?" I said uncertainly.

 **AN: Ta da! What do you guys think? I hope you guys like it! :)**

 **Fenrir's Phantom! Please read! Plz! Plz.**

 **I really hope you like how I portrayed Asmund, I hope he doesn't seem too OOC from what you imagined, if you have anyway for me to improve his portrayal I would like to hear them. :)**

 **AND GUYS! PLEASE READ!**

 **THIS FANFIC IS UN-BETA-D! If you think I need a Beta PLEASE let me know! I want to make this fic as enjoyable for you guys as possible and if my writing is crap I can't do that. PLEASE LET ME KNOW! and if you would like to Beta my work *nudgenudge winkwink* Let me know! It'd be greatly appreciated! :)**


	5. Author's Note-READ IT

**Author's Note**

 **I AM SO SORRY PEOPLE! *runs away and cries in corner***

 **I'm afraid that due to my upcoming exams and assessments at school *shudders* I am unable to post anything more at this point in time.**

 ***Draws Riptide and uses Leo and Hiccup as human shields* *yells* DON'T GO BITCHIN' TO ME CAUSE YOU WANT A CHAPTER! GO BITCHIN' TO MY SCHOOL AND MY PARENTS!**

 ***Pushes bewildered Leo and Hiccup aside, gives Riptide back to Percy* Look guys, I'm sorry but I want to have a life better than the one I have presently and to do that I need good grades. It's only going to be a few weeks.**

 ***taps microphone making it squeal* *screams* THIS IS NOT ON HIATUS! NOR IS IT ABANDONED!**

 **Tell you guys what, while you're waiting for the next chapter I'll go back into my previous chapters and make them better! I will make them so that they fit my standards because currently they do not. AND THEN...**

 **I WILL GIVE YOU THE ACTUAL CHAPTER 5!**

 ***wild cheering, whistles and applause***

 **AND IT WILL BE THREE TIMES AS LONG AS MY OTHER CHAPTERS!**

 ***The Pride Lands, Berk, Narnia, Asgard, Middle Earth, the Inkworld, Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter party until even Dionysus (Greek god of parties) says that's enough***

 **Alright, alright! Seriously, cheers guys, and if any of youse can guess who Leo and Percy are I'll make chapter 7 (THAT'S A REFERENCE THERE) extra special in some way, shape or form.**

 **AND IF YOU CAN'T!**

 ***lightning flashes and thunder booms, ominous music plays in background***

 **Hiccup: duh da dah, we're dead.**

 **As he said, you're dead. *grins wickedly* No, not really, I'll just make you lot miserable ie. no chapter.**

 ***gasps all around, fandom baby cries and woman screams***

 **but seriously, no surprises or long chapters if none of youse guess.**

 **das right *snaps fingers sassily***

 **#Persassy #SuperSizedMcShizzle #Percabeth #Caleo**


	6. Interesting

**AN: So, finally another chapter.**

 ***ducks flying laptops* okay, okay *hit square in the face by dictionary* I deserved that but still. Anyway, thank you Fenrir's Phantom and all my lovely favouriters, followers and reviewers. I love you all despite what I do.**

 **DISCLAIMER: Despite my delusions I am not an all-powerful fiction deity that creates wonders such as HTTYD.**

 **Anyway, here you go:**

Chapter 5

}Interesting...{

~Asmund~

I scanned the skies, watching for dragons. I'd seen two new ones fly into a cave on the mountain a few nights ago, a Deadly Nadder and a black one, virtually invisible. Until I knew they weren't hostile it payed to be cautious. I breathed in deeply, savoring the scent of pine needles and damp earth from the rain early this morning. Safe...happy...free... I closed my eyes, moving down the path, soil shifting beneath my feet. I opened my eyes, sighing, life was better than before but it would be nice if...

I shook my head firmly, _no, I can't think about them now, they're gone, they're safe and happy now.  
_

A snapping twig caught my attention. I whipped my eyes back and forth across the edges of the pat, scanning the underbrush as I casually moved along, pretending not to have noticed. I spotted a young deer grazing on the underbrush out of the corner of my eye. It lifted its head and saw me paused on the path. It blinked at me, sniffed the air before turning on its heels and fleeing.

I cursed under my breath, that would've been meat enough for a week and that skin would've made a nice rug. I shook my head, nothing I can do about it now. I huffed and made my way to the waterfall.

Eventually the crashing of the water got louder and louder until-

Wait. I heard a splash, out of the pattern of the tumbling water of the waterfall. A human groan of disappointment sounded shortly afterwards.

I furrowed my brow in confusion at this new development. I moved toward the lake, silently padding on the balls of my feet. I pressed against the trunk of a Weeping Willow, nearly invisible in the shadows. I slowly moved my head around the side of the trunk and what I saw surprised me.

A scrawny young boy held up a crudely carved oaken spear, poised to strike at the water. A Viking tunic and fur vest hung from his scrawny frame so that explained his general origins. I frowned in confusion. Generally Vikings abandoned the small and the weak as infants. I could've been one of those children, but my parents were too stubborn.

Another splash surprised me out of my reverie. I nearly snapped my head around to yell at him but barely held myself back. He was scaring all the fish.

He gingerly lifted the spear out of the water and nearly whooped in joy when he saw a Perch wiggling on the end.

"I did it." He lifted his arms over his head and danced around giggling like a little girl and singing about how he did it.

It was almost comical.

I made a noise in the back of my throat and stepped to the side of the tree. The boy settled down somewhat and turned to wade ashore. I smirked and launched my own spear at the boy. It landed in the shallows between the boy's feet, splashing him with water and effectively stopping him in his tracks.

He brandished his fish topped spear in my general direction, trying to appear fearsome but only resulting in being even more comical.

I made a noise in the back of my throat. "You're scaring all the fish."

The boy's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "Uh..um..ah..uh...hi?" He squeaked.

I snorted, "very threatening you are. What are you, a walking fish bone?"

The boy bristled with annoyance, the distaste of my statement written all over his face. Ah dammit Thor, my people skills really need work.

"Gee, thanks, I go to a completely different island, seemingly uninhabited and I've only been here two days and already I'm once again labelled fish bone. Thank you for your hospitality." Sarcasm practically sizzled the ground between us.

I pressed my lips together in a tight line and moved silently through the undergrowth, keeping low to the ground. I heard the boy huff indignantly and shuffle out of the water. I glided over the sand to behind the boy, retrieving my spear.

He mumbled something unintelligible as he dropped the wiggling fish in a tightly woven basket, nearly as big as himself. He turned around, barely taking a step before he rammed into my chest and fell on his rear with a yelp.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. Yep, terrible people skills.

"Fishing?" He squeaked.

I scoffed, "you're doing it wrong."

* * *

 **Cliffhanger... I'm sorry guys.  
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 **But...**

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 **Bet ya thought it was over! But seriously, thanks for sticking with it!  
**

~Astrid~

Hiccup had been gone too long. Far too long. He wasn't there when I woke up and he hadn't come back. It was nearly sunset. I shifted uncomfortably in my spot on the floor. Stormfly cooed and nudged me gently, expressing her concern.

"He's gonna be alright." I murmured quietly, stroking her rough scales. I looked over at Toothless, staring out the cave entrance, trilling worriedly. "I hope."

I would never admit it but I actually admired him. He put up with the village and its abuse for fifteen years. Fifteen. And not once did he complain. At least not to my knowledge...

I sighed heavily, getting up from my spot on the ground and brushing off my skirt. "That's it. I'm going to find him."

Stormfly cocked her head at me, trilling confused. I looked out at the sky, noticing how the sky was bleeding purple and orange. "I'll never find him in the dark."

As I looked between Stormfly and the sky an idea started to form in my mind. Slowly I stepped towards her, holding a hand out cautiously. She sniffed my hand and pressed her head into my arms. I gasped in surprise and stroked her scales gently. She trilled happily. I brushed my hand over her neck and she started purring happily.

A bubble of laughter escaped my lips as Stormfly nearly shoved me over, rubbing against me fondly.

I was torn from my bliss abruptly by slow clapping. Stormfly and I whipped towards the sound. I reached for a dagger on my belt and Stormfly readied her spines. I relaxed upon seeing it was only Hiccup. Toothless nudged him happily, wagging his tail excitedly. A heavy wicker basket rested on his back. Our wicker basket, I noticed, stolen probably.

"Don't do that!" I snapped.

He raised his hands defensively, "I was just congratulating you on phase 2 of part 1 of gaining a dragon's trust."

"You have phases?" I asked disbelievingly.

Hiccup straightened, "yes, yes I do. But I have something a little more important to discuss."

"And what might that be?" I demanded, noticing Toothless sniffing something behind Hiccup.

"I think you'll find I mean 'who'" Hiccup said and moved aside.

I raised a brow, externally unimpressed by this new development but inside I was rolling in confusion. There before me was a boy, not much older than myself, but obviously feral. Tangled dark hair touched his narrow shoulders and his body was roughly covered by crudely made clothes. If it weren't for the twisting muscle on his narrow limbs he wouldn't be much broader than Hiccup.

"Who are you?" I demanded, my limbs tensing slightly.

"Asmund." He said shortly.

Hiccup looked between the two of us, a nervous smile on his face, "ah dear. Um, Astrid this is Asmund. Asmund this is Astrid."

I frowned at Hiccup. "What's he doing here?"

"He taught me to fish." Hiccup said brightly, "and so I decided to introduce him to you guys. He does live on this island after all."

I scowled deeper, "he's met us, now he can leave."

"'He' is right here you know." Asmund muttered and I shot him a glare.

"Asssssssssstriiiiiiiiiidddddd." Hiccup whined.

I shot him a glare, baring my teeth slightly. He paled and clamped his jaw shut, edging away behind Toothless.

"I still stand firm. He is leaving. Now." I ordered, folding my arms.

"No." Asmund snapped. "I'm not leaving."

I raised a brow. "Yes you are."

"No. I am not leaving until I know what you two are doing on my island! Then I want you to leave."

"Excuse me? I don't think you're in a position to make demands here. After all, you're outmatched, out skilled and outnumbered. A Deadly Nadder, a Shield Maiden and a gods damned _Night Fury_ against you." I snarled, stalking forward. I jabbed a finger at his chest. " _Don't_ test me."

An animal snarl escaped Asmund's lips and he pushed me backwards. "Don't you _dare_ try to chase me off!"

I snarled at him, readying to pounce. He widened his stance, crouching low to the ground.

"Stop!" Hiccup cried.

I turned my furious gaze upon the trembling boy and narrowed my eyes. He paled and looked between the two of us, one hand out to each of us.

"Look at you." He demanded. "Look at yourselves, fighting like wolves over scraps. Hear each other out and give each other a chance. Please. We can be friends. We don't have to fight."

"No. I don't trust him. I don't like him. I don't want anything to do with him. The sooner we get off this island the better. The sooner we get away from _him_ the better." I snapped, turning and stalking away towards a befuddled Stormfly.

"Astrid-" Hiccup started.

"No." I cut him off. "I don't want to hear it. _Goodnight."_ I ground out and walked away, curling up in Stormfly's wing when she lay down.

* * *

 **AN: Well, it's not as long as I would've liked but I thought that was a good place to end it. And I was running low on inspiration.**

 **Anyway, the next update won't take as long and hopefully there'll be more action, probably not but still, I like to dream. Anyway, I should have more time on my hands from now on (hopefully).**

 **On another note, I was thinking of doing a 'characters try to help fix the fandom' fic for HTTYD and Percy J. Don't worry, I'll continue this to the bitter end and I'll only start one at a time. Plus, this one has priority.**

 **Anyhoudini, thank you to my loyal readers and once again Fenrir's Phantom (I researched Fenrir, I had no idea) and internet waffles and cookies and apples for all of you! :)**


	7. Discovering Discoverable Things

**AN: Hello everybody! 2,388 words this time FYI. It's a 'lil bit of a filler but we learn something new about our characters and poke at their futures. So enjoy!**

 **BTW. If I owned HTTYD the third movie would be out and we'd see a lot more Hicstrid in the movies. (Did I spell that right? :P ah, well)**

Chapter 6

}Discovering Discoverable Things{

~Hiccup~

Staring at the reeds in my hands as I wove them into the end of a basket. I tied off the end with a piece of coarsely woven twine. I stood stretching and examined my work. Not my best but it will do. I walked to the edge of the cave where a few rabbit skins were lying in the sun. I crouched by them and poked at them with a finger. I had rubbed the skins with various dried herbs earlier. I huffed noisily and turned on my heel. Toothless looked up at me wide-eyed, ear flaps alert. I gave him a half smile and rubbed his head fondly before sitting in a pile of wood shavings.

"Why can't I go flying?" I groused quietly.

"You know perfectly why Hiccup." Astrid commented offhandedly.

"Doesn't mean I like it." I retorted quietly.

"I heard that." Astrid replied. I heard a quick _shick_ as she carved a point on the end of a straight branch.

"Then you should know I'm miserable."

She tossed a quick glare my way and I immediately clamped my jaw shut.

"I never picked you for a smart ass Hiccup." She said casually.

I bit back a retort and stood up in a huff.

"Where are you going?"

"Anywhere. I'm bored out of my mind! There's nothing for me to do or look at here! I need to get out and do something! Anything!" I paced back and forth in the cave, tearing at my hair.

"Hiccup!" Astrid snapped.

I rounded on her. "What? What Astrid?"

She looked taken aback momentarily before regaining her composure. "You're going crazy. Calm down. If you need to do something go for a quick flight out over the island." At my exasperated look she added, "No landing. Exploring only from the air. Got it?"

"You could've said that earlier and saved both of us the trouble." I muttered.

"Do you _want_ me to change my mind?"

"I'm going!" I picked up Toothless' flight gear and set it up. With much difficulty, might I add, seeing as he was bouncing around like an excitable dog the entire time I was saddling him.

I mounted him and tossed a look back over to Stormfly and Astrid, before we took off.

* * *

Looking out over the island I finally took the time to appreciate its natural beauty from another angle. The mountain cave we had settled in faced out to the East, overlooking clear waters and beaches that sparkled silver in the moonlight. Rolling hills forested by various trees, Birch, Oak, Willows. All creating a soft blanket of green that stretched from the base of the mountain to tickle the belly of the beach. A twisting cerulean river found its way from atop the mountain spring down into the ocean.

To the West however was a rather flat area, very few trees inhabited the area and the few that did were very young, barely saplings. What looked like dead trees were scattered about the area, clumped together and overgrown with greenery. Instead of the gentle slope downwards towards the beach was a sheer drop off, granite cliffs over looking a sea of grey-blue water.

"Would you look at that bud." I leaned over the side to get a closer look at the stumps and noticed the glint of metal shining in the undergrowth. "What Astrid doesn't know won't hurt her. Let's have a look bud."

Toothless made a sound of agreement in the back of his throat and gently sculpted his wings to glide to earth. We landed with a muffled _thump_ in a fairly clear area. Looking around the dead trees seem to look less like trees and more like wooden posts. Burnt wooden posts. I dismounted Toothless and looked around curiously. We wandered through the green searching for clues. I ran my fingers over a fallen post. They came away stained with black. I rubbed my ash stained fingers together and stood.

"What happened here?" I looked over at Toothless, sniffing the remains of what I assumed was a small house. He pawed at something on the ground and cooed at me. "What have you got there bud?" I wandered over and crouched by what he was pawing. Something glinted dully through the dirt and undergrowth. "Looks like...metal."

I kicked at it with my boot, pushing the dirt aside. Toothless got the idea and dug up the dirt around it. Eventually the metal was dislodged enough that I could claw it out of the earth.

"Well what do you know?" It was the blade of an axe, poorly made and the edge was dull, but the metal was of good quality despite its dirty sheen. "If there's metal here, and weapons at that. That must mean there are people here. Or were."

Glancing around I noticed a slightly rounded, lumpy, dome-like structure that I hadn't seen from the air.

"Let's check that out hey bud?" We wandered over and I brushed past a curtain of vines and found myself in a very surprising place. A forge.

* * *

We spent several hours wandering the wreckage, scavenging bits of metal, tools and various other knick knacks I found useful. We gathered them all in one place and I wove a coarse net out of vines to carry our find back to the cave. Toothless gathered the rough edges in his paws and we took off, gliding lazily through fat clouds stained pink and orange by the setting sun.

 _Sun set._ Realisation hit me in the face like a bag of hammers. _Astrid. Shit._

The cave slowly came into view, a column of smoke lazily rising into the sky. Two figures were looking up at us, one obviously Stormfly and the other most definitely Astrid. Astrid was tapping her foot impatiently, arms folded and a frown on her face. Stormfly squawked before turning and wandering back into the cave. We settled outside the cave with various clanks and bangs that made me cringe.

"Where have you been? And what is all this?" Astrid demanded.

"Um...exploring? You should've seen it Astrid! There was a whole village, well, was, it's just ashes now. There's a forge and it's still in really good condition and look at all the metal and tools we found! I can make you a new axe and a saddle for Stormfly and tools and-" I blabbered, Astrid stopping me with a raised hand.

"So you're saying there used to be a whole village here but now it's in ruins? I think I heard my parents talking about a village that was burned to the ground by Romans a few years ago. It's strange though, from the sounds of it, the Romans could've taken over the whole archipelago if they wanted but after here, they just disappeared." Astrid mused, walking back into the cave towards a pair of skewered rabbits roasting on the fire. "I haven't forgiven you for staying away for so long." At my look of satisfaction she added. "I still don't know how to fly Stormfly and I can only survive here for so long."

"Well, how about tomorrow we start your flying lessons? Just a few beginning exercises then maybe we could do something else afterwards." I suggested, sitting amongst the metal and fishing through it.

"Like what?"

"I dunno, go down to the village? A walk? Make something useful? Plan our journey from here?" I picked up a piece of light metal, thin, probably quite easily bent and shaped.

"What are you doing?" Astrid asked mildly amused, removing the rabbit from the spit and placing it on a hastily carved wooden plate.

"Thinking."

She half smiled and divided the rabbit into several pieces, placing some onto a second plate and pushing other bits to the side for later. She broke some bread and hard cheese, placing a little on each plate.

"I'm going to find out eventually." Astrid said nonchalantly and handed a plate to me. "Stormfly ate when we were out and I caught a few more rabbits," she nodded to several small dark shapes hanging from the ceiling in the back of the cave. "She caught a small deer. That's its skin there." She gestured to a skin I hadn't seen earlier. She looked sideways at me, an intelligent light glowing in her eyes. "You could make something from the leather."

I nodded thoughtfully. "We'll have to call in at a village or trading port sometime, I know while I might not grow you will and won't want to wear ill-fitting clothes. There could be useful things that we need and gods know we'll need it." I thought for a moment. " _Especially_ if we're going to be pulling stunts like the other night."

Realisation splashed across Astrid's features and it was soon mirrored on my own face.

"Oh gods what if they saw us?" I exclaimed, "they could be hunting us right now and we wouldn't even know!"

Astrid set down her empty plate and frowned, deep in thought. "If we're going to be getting up close and personal to Vikings we're going to need to make sure we're not recognised."

I nodded catching her idea. "We'll need disguises. Hoods can be pulled or blown back. Helmets can fall off...masks! We'll use masks! I can make us both something that will hide our identities and protect us during flight and battle." I scrambled to my feet and rifled through my bag, disturbing Toothless from his sleep. "It's alright bud, go back to sleep." He grumbled moodily and turned away, hiding his face under a paw.

I sat across from Astrid again and flicked through my notebook for a blank page. Finding one I quickly set to work, drawing a basic shape before glancing around, looking for inspiration.

Astrid regarded me curiously before shaking her head and fiddling with a pale blue scale. I looked between Astrid and the scale. The scale and Stormfly. Stormfly and Astrid. An idea flickered to life and I sketched a few rough shapes. A mask, covering the whole face bar the mouth. The top of a birds sharp beak where the mouth would be and narrow spikes, crowning the back edge of the mask similar to a Deadly Nadder. A band would wrap around the head and hold it in place even upside down. I held the book at arms length and looked between Astrid and the mask.

Astrid frowned, "what are you doing?"

"Thinking." I added a few ideas for materials at the side, wood, metal, leather, dragon scales etc.

"Let me see." She crawled forward on her knees and plucked the book from my fingers. As she read I watched her eyes widen ever so slightly and her lips part. She caressed the page with her fingertips and then looked back up at me. "It's beautiful." She gently handed it back to me. "Draw something to match."

I took the book in my hands, shocked beyond belief. No one had ever said my drawings were beautiful before. Turning back to my book I sketched something else, the basic shape of a two handed axe, similar to Astrid's old one except the butt was embedded with a Nadder tail spike.

"Here." I handed the book back to Astrid and she took in the sight with awe, asking for more.

Shakily, I drew the basic form of a person, slowly filling out details. Tights, fur boots. A fur and leather skirt studded with spikes. Fur armbands. A waist length cloak. A short sleeved top and a hooded fur mantle, clasped at the front with metal. I jotted down notes for materials and colours, vaguely noting how it was coloured similarly to Stormfly. Letting out a quick breath I handed it to Astrid and drew my knees up to my chest.

She took it, confused somewhat, by my nervous behaviour. I watched as she took it in, a small smile curling her lips. She looked back to me, eyes bright. "I love it. Now draw something for you."

"W-what? For me?" I stammered, barely managing to hold the notebook in surprise.

"Yes for you. You're the one riding the Night Fury. People will be wanting to shoot you down. _You._ Not me. You need a disguise too." Astrid reasoned in a tone that left no room for argument.

"It should be dark, like Toothless." Astrid continued, "something, sleek and light that won't slow you down. But, it should reflect you too."

I felt my cheeks pink in embarrassment and focused my gaze on the blank page. Slowly, an idea formed on the page. A full-face mask, with eye-slits and simple slits in the lower half for breathing. I looked over at Toothless and took note of the rounded spikes on his back and head. I incorporated three separate lines of spikes, curving from the front to the back. I jotted down a few notes; dark brown and black, leather and metal.

Turning the page I started on a suit. High topped leather boots, soft and fur-lined. Dark trousers, fairly formfitting. Sleek leather gauntlets and a long sleeved tunic. A leather vest, similar to basic armour and leather shoulder pads. Looking over it I wasn't quite satisfied, but it will do for now.

"What about this?" I asked timidly and handed it to Astrid.

She examined both pages critically before nodding in approval and handing it over. "Practically screams Night Fury." She gave a small smile and stood. "Better get to sleep if we're going flying tomorrow."

I watched as she walked over to Stormfly and curled into the warmth of her wings. A smile tugged at my lips and I turned out to the sky, watching the inky black twinkle with a thousand diamonds.

Vaguely I wondered where Asmund was, curious as to why we hadn't seen him in the days that had passed since we met. I shrugged it off for now and resumed my sketches.


	8. Definitely Not Good

**AN: WARPAINT!**

 **Alright, enough with the random weirdness. 3,085 words, be grateful bitches.**

 **This was mostly inspired and motivated by the wonderful Fenrir's Phantom and the fact I was really excited for this.**

 **NOTE! IMPORTANT!**

 **I won't update for quite a while because a)School holidays/christmas, b)laziness and c)I am going to Sydney for sometime and shall not be bored enough to waste my life on the internet.**

 **Anyway, GREAT NEWS!**

 **For me anyway, I got an award for English at one of the best schools in the state! Yas! Yas! So yeah, stuff. Um, this chapter probably isn't as epic as it could've been, however my hands are sore so yeah...however it is chapter 7 so something special is gonna happen.**

 **If I owned HTTYD...I would probably not live in the desert. And be a billionaire.  
**

Chapter 7

}Definitely Not Good{

Astrid

I yawned, covering my mouth with a limp hand. The sun was still yet to rise and the others were still asleep. I wasn't quite sure what had woken me but I was unable to go back to sleep. Sighing loudly I shuffled away from Stormfly and plopped by the entrance, staring at the dark sky. Something flat and smooth brushed against my hand and I turned to look, spotting Hiccup's notebook. I peeked over my shoulder, glancing at a soundly sleeping Toothless, Hiccup curled in his wings. Satisfied I picked up the book and gently flipped it open. My eyes widened ever so slightly at the picture, Hiccup's talent didn't cease to amaze me. It was a drawing of one of Berk's beaches at sunrise. I flicked through the pages, marveling at the obvious skill Hiccup possesses. There were designs for various tools and weapons and traps. Sketches of buildings and views. Lots of pictures of Toothless and other dragons. But mostly there were people. Gobber, Stoick, the other teens and...me. I gazed at a portrait in awe, he captured me in the page, a relaxed smile on my face, axe draped across my knees and eyes closed, leaning against a boulder.

I glanced back at Toothless cautiously before turning back. Hiccup held me in such high respects, such awe and what did I do? I completely ignored him. True I didn't taunt him until just recently but I didn't support him either. I huffed silently and turned my face to the ceiling, closing my eyes in regret. I stood, opening my eyes and walked to Toothless before placing the notebook at his head.

I spent the next half hour before sunrise wandering the cave and gathering shed dragon scales. Hiccup was going to need them for my mask. By the time the sun had risen I had two small piles of scales, one black and the other mostly blue with specks of yellow and red. I spent the next little while preparing breakfast, some roast rabbit from last night and some bread and hard cheese placing them on the two plates I made yesterday. (I didn't fail to notice that they were clean). Hiccup flopped out of the folds of Toothless' wings, stumbling forward, almost falling face-first in the still hot coals of last night's fire.

"Morning Astrid." He murmured quietly, sitting and waiting for me to take my breakfast before starting himself.

I took a moment to admire his manners, not many would wait for another to start eating before starting themselves, let alone wait for a woman if they were a man. But technically Hiccup wasn't a man, and I wasn't a woman. Yet, it somehow made him appear very...chivalrous.

My eyes widened in realisation. _What are you talking about Astrid?! Concentrate!_

Hiccup looked up at me curiously, an eyebrow cocked and questioning look in his eyes. I shook my head, a reassuring smile pulling at my lips. He didn't look convinced but didn't push.

"So," I started, changing my train of thought, "you had better be teaching me to fly today."

Hiccup glanced up from his breakfast before swallowing a mouthful. "Of course! You'll be the second Viking in history to ride a dragon." He smiled widely, eyes sparkling. "Of course you've already ridden Toothless but on your own I mean, with Stormfly." We ate in silence as he thought and I wondered, nerves trembling in excitement, what it would be like riding Stormfly.

Of course it would be different, I'd be on my own, but they're completely different dragons. Stormfly is larger, more upright facing and bird-like, with a different shaped body. Toothless has a broad back, flat and long with a lot of space between wings and Stormfly is narrower, with closer wings. Hiccup sat in front of Toothless' wings but I'd have to ride behind Stormfly's.

By the time we finished breakfast I was feeling more than a twinge of nerves.

"Okay," Hiccup clapped his hands together and made his way to the back of the cave to the pile of metal they salvaged yesterday. "You're going to need something to hold on with." He explained as he came back with a sturdy looking piece of vine.

He tied it around Stormfly's middle, just behind her wings and gave her a gentle pat. "There we go girl, ready to go."

"Just like that?" I asked, "is that all there is to it?"

Hiccup gave a small shake of his head, _of course not,_ I thought poutily*, _there's always more._

"Come on." He waved me forward, "you've got to make sure she's okay with you riding her before the first few times you try. Just go up and slowly go through the motions of mounting her, if she seems skittish, stop, back off and wait before trying again."

I let out a small breath through my nose and approached Stormfly as I always would. She turned her head to look at me curiously and let out a sharp squawk. I reached up, stretching for the vine around her middle. Upon gaining no reaction I grasped the vine gently. Still nothing. I secured my grip higher with both hands and leaned forward slowly. Stormfly gave a reassuring warble and I turned back, bouncing quickly I pulled my body up and onto her back, landing with a leg on either side.

Upon only gaining a happy trill from the dragon as a reaction I let a triumphant grin spread across my face.

"There we go." Hiccup grinned from his spot on Toothless, "now, we're just going to take it slo-"

Before he could finish his sentence Stormfly ran forward and launched herself off the edge, gliding over the treetops. My reaction was not one I was proud of.

"Hiccup!"

"I'm right here." I turned to my right and saw Hiccup and Toothless gliding along side us, relief washed over me and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Alright, we'll save taking off for another time. Start with stop. Lean back, pulling on the vine a little and say:stop." Hiccup instructed.

Taking a deep breath I tentatively leaned ever so slightly back.

"Don't worry. I'll catch you."

Nodding affirmation I leaned further back and told Stormfly to stop. We paused mid-flap, hovering in place.

"Good. Tap her sides with your feet and ask her to go."

I did as told and with a moments hesitation we started soaring again.

"Alright, lean to the left and say-"

"Left?"

"Well, yeah."

I did as I was told and we banked to the left. Before Hiccup could instruct me further I did the same thing with the right side.

"Well done Astrid. Now lean forward and say up, then sit back and tell her down." Hiccup called, watching from afar.

We tried it successfully and we hovered waiting for more.

"That's basically it." Hiccup said coming over, "with a bit more practice it should come naturally, almost in sync with Stormfly, guessing your moves. Dragons are smart, if you ask them aloud, generally they should understand and do as you ask."

Toothless snorted as if to say, _ we should understand? Stupid human. _

"Toothless...you know what I mean." Hiccup smiled fondly at Toothless before looking back up at me. "Just do those exercises for a while then we can rest and do something else."

I nodded confirmation and Stormfly and I resumed our basic exercises, mixing it up a little sometimes but still doing fairly well for first-timers. We continued like that for sometime until I really started to feel uncomfortable. I hated to admit weakness but this was probably necessary.

"Hiccup?" I called, "can we take a break?"

Toothless swooped out of a roll and leveled off beside us. "Sure. Look, the river's right below us, we can take a break there."

"Alright, c'mon Stormfly." We leaned forward in a swooping dive, bolting down like an arrow from a bow to a stop on the ground. It wasn't quite as graceful as Hiccup and Toothless' but it was more than average for a beginner. At least I assumed.

I wandered the riverbank, twisting and stretching my muscles from their cramped positions. "How are you not sore?"

"You get used to it." Hiccup replied and sat, leaning against a tree.

I sat beside him, not failing to notice the subtle widening of his eyes. "When you and Stormfly are bit more used to each other we can go out to a trading port or a market and trade for some leather and cloth. Maybe a little bit of fur. With what we have here I'll be able to make you a saddle and maybe even start on our disguises."

I nodded in agreement. "You brought money?"

He shuffled uncomfortably. "No, not much. I'll be able to trade a little metal and a few little knick knacks for some cheaper things. The others...I might be able to get a job in a blacksmith's and earn some money." He looked out over the river. "I'll figure it out."

"I brought money."

Hiccup looked back at me and blinked owlishly.

"Since we'll be living together for a while, and it _is_ actually my money I can share if it'll benefit both of us." I said, looking down and fiddling with a blade of grass.

"Y-you would?" Hiccup stuttered.

I gave a little half smile. "Yeah."

We sat in a surprisingly comfortable silence for sometime, just watching the light dappled on the river and listening to the sweet, sweet song of a mysterious bird.

"Where should we go from here?" I wondered aloud.

Hiccup hummed under his breath before looking up. "We'll have to free the dragons in the archipelago first, maybe even try to convince some people that dragons aren't all bad. Then after that...I dunno. I've always wondered if there was any land down South. Maybe there's some giant landmass there, with dragons we've never seen before. Maybe there are people out there like us, people who don't hate dragons. And maybe there are people not like us. I don't mean in the dragon hating way, but just...different. Strange to us, living somewhere where it never snows and the rain is little and dragons are welcomed and sing on the rooftops..." He trailed off and looked around. "Where are the dragons? Toothless!"

My eyes widened in realisation, "Stormfly!"

We scrambled about, searching the underbrush and trees calling their names and searching for prints. I found a trail of prints leading along the bank downstream. "Hiccup! Over here!"

He ran over, breaths coming in short bursts. "Toothless' footprints!"

"Exactly!"

We followed the prints calling for the dragons until Hiccup slipped on a torn up mud pile. He cried out in surprise, falling towards the river and flailing his arms. I caught him by the wrist and he hung suspended above the water.

"That was close." He breathed shakily but my attention wasn't on him. "Astrid? Astrid? Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." He pulled himself up and turned to look, his face paled.

There on the opposite bank was a skeleton. Strange armour glittered in the water and the bleached bones were overgrown with river weeds.

"By the gods." Hiccup whispered.

I nodded in mute agreement. "Toothless' tracks continue on the other side."

"Let's go." We waded into the river at a shallow spot, the water only reached up to my chest, and we made our way through the gently tugging current.

We slogged through the water and onto the bank, brushing past the skeleton. The tracks led through dense undergrowth, obviously broken and pushed aside by something large. We walked for some time and as we did I took a moment to wonder how long we weren't paying attention to the dragons for that they went so far. We finally emerged from the undergrowth in an area that gave little shelter and was made mostly of stone and the base of a rocky outcropping.

Hiccup almost wandered out into the open before I managed to grab him by the arm and drag him back.

"Are you crazy?" I hissed in his ear. "What if whatever drew the dragons away is still there and ready to attack us? What then?"

"Okay, okay. We need an idea." Hiccup murmured and paced in the undergrowth.

I sat and waited, listening to his near silent muttering and the melodic cries of an unknown bird. Then they stopped. The cries stopped. I waited, expecting them to start again. But they didn't.

I frowned and looked out at the rocky ground again. I moved my foot slightly and heard a sharp crack. Looking down I spotted a bleached bone, snapped in two where my foot landed. I gulped.

"Hiccup..."

"Not now Astrid." He muttered.

I frowned and opted to look around more. There were more bones scattered around the area, some glinting of metal and a strange amber coloured rock. An angry cry sounded, like a shriek except, strangely melodic and enchanting. It sounded a little like..."That bird!"

I turned to Hiccup who had stopped his pacing and was now frowning out at the rocky area. "That bird! Hiccup, that bird earlier must have called the dragons away!"

"I don't think it was a bird Astrid." Hiccup murmured. "Look."

I turned to where he was pointing and gasped. Toothless and Stormfly were being chased by a strange brightly coloured dragon.

"Oh my gods."

It roared that same melodic roar again and breathed (squirted?) some of that liquid amber at our dragons. Stormfly roared indignantly and fired right back, dodging the other dragon's blow.

"We have to help them!" Hiccup exclaimed and ran out, hiding behind jutting rocks.

I bit back an insult and ran after him, rolling between two boulders. I peeked round the side and looked the dragon up and down. It had a long, awkwardly shaped head crested with spikes, antennae and a purple, fan-like appendage on both sides of its jaw. Its wings were similar, fan-like and yellow, mottled with bright purple. From what I saw it only had two hind legs. A glob of amber landed beside me and I snapped back, shrinking behind the rock.

I cursed quietly, how I longed for my axe.

Stormfly was approaching and fast. Toothless was already in the air, Hiccup on his back and firing angrily at the dragon.

"Stormfly!"

I saw her balk and then veer towards me. She paused by my hiding place and I leapt on, taking off just before a blast of amber hit the ground we had been on. We joined Hiccup in the air, firing at the angrily screeching dragon, its song more like a death cry now. It fired blast after blast of amber at us until it tried again and came up with nothing. Stormfly fired her spines at the dragon, cutting it off and clipping its underbelly. It shrieked in surprise and faltered in the air. Toothless roared commandingly* and it slowly sank towards the ground, head bowed in defeat.

We settled on the ground just as a slim figure came running out, axe glinting in the light. Hiccup slipped off Toothless just as he pounced, pinning the dragon to the ground. He roared at the dragon and sat haughtily on its chest.

Asmund cautiously approached us, axe held tightly and muscles tensed.

"Hey Asmund." Hiccup called casually.

"You defeated the Death Song?" He asked skeptically, lowering his axe slightly.

"Sort of. What are you doing here?"

I folded my arms and regarded Asmund cautiously.

"I heard the Death Song screaming. Naturally I ignored it until I realised it was you that it was probably after." Asmund explained, folding his arms and regarding me with an air of finality.

"Death Song?" I asked coldly. "Sounds like something Tuffnut came up with."

"I didn't name it." Asmund said tersely.

I harrumphed.

"You're still on my island." He continued, looking questioningly at Hiccup.

"Yeah, ah...we need to make some preparations and Astrid needs to practice flying and I need to make Stormfly a saddle." Hiccup explained. "We'll be out of here as soon as possible, I promise you, but we need to get some things ready first."

Asmund raised an eyebrow but nodded, turning away. He went several steps before turning abruptly and walking to me.

"What did I ever do to make you mad at me? I just showed up and you went ballistic! Why? Why are you so pissed at me?" He demanded.

Hiccup made a move to speak but I raised a hand to silence him.

"You were strange and new. I had just left my family forever, my brothers, mother and father, left behind buried in the shame of my actions and nearly broke! I had just abandoned my tribe! Me! An honoured Shield Maiden in training! Abandoning her tribe and family for a life of treachery with her people's greatest enemies and the village's disgrace!" Hiccup winced visibly at that. "I don't know. You tell me. Is being torn up with guilt and shame and half a dozen other emotions enough to snap at a stranger after your only human companion has disappeared for the entire day then comes back with said stranger, offering no explanation and expecting me to go: oh! Hi! How are you? Do you want to be friends? I want to be friends. Well, no! Of course I'm going to be mad! It doesn't help I'm a naturally angry person either!"

I huffed loudly. Asmund looked taken aback and Hiccup looked downright ashamed, head bowed and twiddling with his thumbs. Stormfly trilled comfortingly.

"Sorry." Asmund murmured.

"I don't apologise." I said. "But if I did, this is where I would." I slipped from Stormfly's back and grasped Asmund's outstretched hand.

"So..." Hiccup started, "we should probably-" he was cut off by a terrified screech.

* * *

 **AN:**

 *** I know these aren't real words but still, give me a little leniency.**

 **Hugs and cookies and baby Night Furys for everyone!**


	9. Acid

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry 'bout the wait. Y'wanna know why? Um... Mum took my iPad, I went away to Sydney for two weeks (YAY my first plane trip!) (had an awesome time btw), Christmas, during which I was looking after my boss' yard and someone's cat (totally adorable as well), spent a lot of time studying, lots of training 'cause all that time in Sydney I got fat, hmm...lot's of time spent on FF, during which I spent a lot of time reading httyd crap and bitching about Mary Sues and half a billion other things. So basically...PROCRASTINATION!**

 **Had a great time in Sydney as well, it was awesome. We went to Luna Park, The Australian Museum, the Power House Museum (saw DC Lego exhibition, fucking amazing! There was a goddamn, life-size, Lego Batmobile! A fucking Batmobile! It was so awesome and you are so jealous. I know you are. I can feel your jealousy.), Sea Life Aquarium, Taronga Zoo, the Botanical Gardens, past the UNSW campus, Opera House and even saw real life Picassos. God damn Picassos. And went to Matilda the Musical.**

 **And now it's school again. Fun times.**

 **Started watching The Flash series, and oh my fucking god; Harrison Wells (wheelchair dude), looks exactly like my Uncle. I am not even kidding. Glasses, face shape, hair colour, goddamn eye colour! Except my uncle smiles different...it's less...evil looking...and he's not in a wheelchair.**

 **AnyHoudini..**

 **OH! I forgot to mention last chapter: I don't actually know how to ride a dragon. Any information regarding the riding of dragons I have taken from my knowledge of riding horses. So if you ever encounter a dragon and wish to ride it...this probably isn't the way you should go about it.**

 **Anyway, enjoy this hard work of mine. I don't own this yadda yaddda ya etc.  
**

 _Last time: Our heroes discovered the mysterious Death Song dragon, a strange creature that lures its victims to a slow and gruesome demise. With the help of their humans the dragons defeated the Death Song. The mysterious island boy and the dragon riders were then left with the dilemma as to what to do with the fearsome dragon..._

Chapter 8

}Acid{

Asmund

I looked down at Astrid as she clasped my forearm firmly, "sorry."

She stared up at me firmly. "I don't apologise. But if I did, this is where I would."

We nodded firmly and broke apart.

"So..." Hiccup began, "we should probably-" he was cut off by the terrified screech of a Changewing.

"What was that?" Astrid demanded, turning to scan the area.

"Changewing." I answered shortly. I removed a short coil of rope from my satchel and dropped it on the ground. "You can use this on the Death Song until you get off the island."

"We're not going anywhere until we free that dragon." Hiccup stood his ground, glaring at Astrid, challenging her to change his mind.

"Not my problem." I waved it off, turning to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" Astrid demanded.

"Home." I answered shortly. "You can get burned to death, I'm going home."

"You can't just leave us here."

"Yes. Yes, I can actually. Good luck with your dragon rescue."

"They're not dangerous. Dragons aren't dangerous." Hiccup stated passionately.

"Really?" I asked sarcastically, "I think those three dragons there disprove your statement."

He rolled his eyes. "Not to us. Not now we've formed a bond with the dragons. See?"

I paused, looking over my shoulder at him. "Yeah. I see. Now goodbye."

"Don't you want to get off this island?" I froze, memories beating at the wall in my mind. "If you join us, you can leave. You can go wherever you want, be whoever you want, do whatever you want." He paused for breath. "You just have to trust me."

"What if I don't want to leave?"

He shrugged. "Then you don't have to. Just please, learn about dragons. What they really are. You won't have to fear them if they become your friends."

"What does this have to do with the Changewing?" I asked suspiciously.

"A lot. Come and find out." He tied the Death Song's muzzle shut tightly then mounted the black dragon...Toothless, if I recall correctly.

Astrid followed suite and mounted her Nadder, less surely, and a bit clumsier than Hiccup. I approached the black dragon unsure and carefully mounted behind Hiccup.

"C'mon bud, let's find that dragon." Toothless roared at the Death Song beneath him before taking off. We hovered a good distance above the ground scanning the rocky cliff base.

"There!" Astrid pointed down at several amber coloured splodges, nestled behind a stone wall.

"Take us in bud." Toothless warbled and swooped down, a marvellous feeling up in the air.

We landed with a muffled _whump_ and Hiccup dismounted, scanning the trapped dragons. There were several gronkles, a terrible terror or two, several Roman skeletons, littered with bits of amber and a single very angry Changewing. It roared and screeched, whipping its head from side to side and attempting to spit acid. I dismounted Toothless and cautiously moved to the side of the small valley, standing between a skeleton and several pieces of Roman armour.

Hiccup lowered his body a bit, so he appeared smaller and less dangerous. He moved forward slowly, eyes lowered submissively. The Changewing stopped its wild thrashing instead opting to glare and growl at the slowly advancing Hiccup. He murmured softly, gentle, encouraging words flowing over the dragon. The growling softened and Hiccup turned his head, reaching a hand slowly toward the dragon. The dragon paused and sniffed at his hand. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a fascinating thing to watch. This scrawny, hiccup, this...twig of a boy turn a snarling, thrashing beast into a gentle creature, sniffing and nuzzling his hand as if it were a tame animal.

"Asmund, do you know if this amber stuff has any weaknesses?" Hiccup asked over his shoulder.

I frowned. "When someone was caught in the Death Song's amber, my village used to melt it. It's indestructible otherwise."

He nodded. "Astrid, can you get Stormfly to give me a slow burn?"

She nodded in acknowledgement and gave her Nadder, Stormfly, the command. Hiccup stroked the Changewing's head soothingly as Stormfly melted the solid amber. The indestructible amber was soon a shiny puddle on the ground and the Changewing was free. It stretched out it's wings and limbs and roared triumphantly.

"Asmund, come here." Hiccup waved me over. The Changewing hadn't moved from it's spot but instead of looking ready to attack or flee, it seemed it wanted to stay.

I hesitated, but moved forward slowly, in a similar manner to what I'd seen Hiccup do. He took one of my hands and outstretched it to the Changewing, placing it on it's muzzle. The scales were surprisingly warm and soft under my hand, although a little dry.

"What are you doing?" I hissed as Hiccup backed away triumphantly, a smug grin stretching his face.

"Helping you make a friend for life."

I looked back at the Changewing puzzled, it's breath warmed my hand and pushed past my arm, raising goose flesh. I met the dragon's yellow eyes and I almost swore I saw myself reflected in the shining yellow.

"Changewings are pack animals," Hiccup continued his lecture, "much like wolves or people. They feel threatened or scared when separated from their packs and tend to hide or flee. In theory, it would be possible to train a Changewing if you made it feel safe and in a pack that welcomes them. Even if Astrid and I leave, this Changewing is likely to stay with you and protect you as if you were a member of his pack." I nodded beginning to see his point.

"So you're saying, if I treat this Changewing well and protect it, it'll protect me as well?"

Hiccup nodded. "That's how a pack works. It's in his instincts."

I nodded slowly. Astrid and Hiccup watched me curiously, waiting to see what I would do. The Changewing looked at me intelligently, with cunning yellow eyes.

"He'll be Fjalar. The deceiver. And I'll come with you."

* * *

Hiccup

I continued to give Astrid flying lessons while Asmund and Fjalar rested by the lake in the shade of a willow tree. They were both fast and attentive learners, catching on quickly and guessing how or when something was needed to be done. Astrid and Stormfly were soon guessing each-other's movements and moving in sync, leaning and spinning and diving eagerly. Asmund seemed to learn best by watching, I guessed that he probably taught himself most of what he knows by watching other people at work.

We glided down to land by the lake and rest.

Astrid slid off Stormfly, stretching her legs and back. "Hiccup, you need to get to work on those saddles soon."

"I know Astrid, I just need more supplies first and then I will get onto those saddles." I answered painfully aware of her pained glare.

"I have some materials you can use." Asmund said.

We looked over at Asmund curiously. "In my cave. There might not be enough for two saddles but enough to make the basics."

I nodded, "Toothless and I will get a couple of things from our cave then we can go get those materials."

Asmund and Astrid nodded in agreement and Toothless and I took off. We circled the mountain and landed in our cave. I slid off Toothless and gathered up my satchel, scavenging through the scraps of metal for makeshift tools, I pushed my notebook into the satchel, piled the tools in on top and gathered Astrid's deer skin and a few soft rabbit skins.

"C'mon bud." We flew back out to meet Astrid and Asmund, hovering over the waterfall.

"This way," Asmund lead us low over the forest, past the hollow corpses of the burnt out village. We landed deep in the forest, beside a stone hill, covered in moss and plant life.

He slid off Fjalar and walked forward to a curtain of ivy and vines. "In here."

Astrid and I shared a look, but we followed anyway, pushing past the vines and heavy skins that covered the entrance and kept the cave warm. It was a fairly large cave, with a low ceiling but it spread back a fair way. Dried herbs dangled from the ceiling, furs and skins were piled over a rickety wooden bed. Cooking utensils and tools were stacked along the walls and there was a fire pit in the center of the floor, the coals still glowed red and a cast iron pot rested slightly off to the side. Several furs and large, thick clothes hung off pegs forced into the wall.

"You've been here a while." Astrid observed.

Asmund frowned but said nothing. He rooted through the skins piled on his bed and pulled out a pair of deer skins.

"Here." He handed them to me and I spread them across the ground, examining them. I pulled out my charcoal pencil and picked one skin up. I lay the skin across Stormfly's back, around where I'd seen Astrid ride. I traced the outline of a simple, streamlined saddle, light and small. I put the skin down and looked at it from several angles. I fished around in my satchel and found a knife that I'd remade, sharper and with a less worn grip.

"Time to get to work."


End file.
